Calls from CNN to Gazprom were not answered.
A top Gazprom executive was found dead in his cottage in the village of Leninsky near Leningrad on January 30, 2022, according to Russian state media RIA Novosti.
RIA reported that a suicide note was found at the scene and investigators ruled the death a suicide. Russian state broadcaster RenTV has identified the man as Leonid Shulman, head of transportation at Gazprom Invest.
Just a month later, another top Gazprom executive was found dead in the same village. Alexander Tyulakov was found dead in his garage on February 25, according to the independent Russian newspaper Novaya Gazeta. Novaya Gazeta reported that he died by suicide.
CNN has reached out to the Russian investigative committee for comment on the two cases, but has received no response.
Mikhail Watford, a Ukrainian-born Russian billionaire, was found dead at his home in Surrey, England on February 28.
Surrey Police told CNN the death was being investigated by the coroner, who said a hearing would be held on July 29.
Another Russian businessman, Vasily Melnikov, was found dead with his family in Nizhny Novgorod at the end of March, according to the Russian newspaper Kommersant.
Melnikov owned MedStom, a medical supplies company. According to the Russian investigative committee, on March 23 a 43-year-old man, his wife, 41, and two children, ages four and 10, were found stabbed to death.
The committee did not name Melnikov, but the age of the dead and the location of the incident match the Kommersant report.
The regional branch of the Committee of Inquiry has not updated the status of its investigation and has not responded to CNN’s request for comment. At the time of the March incident, it said there had been “no signs of trespassing on the home” and “knives were found and confiscated.”
“[Investigators] are considering multiple versions of what happened, including the murder of the children and wife by the head of the family, followed by a self-inflicted death,” the committee said.
And earlier this month, two more Russian businessmen died in apparent murder-suicide incidents.
According to Russian state news agency Tass, Vladislav Avayev, the former vice president of Gazprombank, was found dead in his Moscow apartment on April 18 with his wife and daughter.
Citing a law enforcement source, Tass claimed authorities were investigating the Avayevs’ deaths as a murder-suicide.
Yulia Ivanova, a representative of the Moscow Investigative Committee, was quoted by Tass as saying that a relative discovered the Avayevs’ bodies after the family driver and nanny told them they could not reach them by phone or enter the apartment , since the door was closed from the inside.
Igor Volobuev, a former vice-president of Gazprombank who recently left Russia for Ukraine, told CNN he doesn’t think Avayev killed himself.
“His job was to deal with private banking, that is, dealing with VIP clients. He was responsible for very large amounts of money. So did he kill himself? I don’t think so. I think he knew something and that he a posed some risk,” Volobuev told CNN.
Just a day later, on April 19, north of Barcelona, Sergey Protosenya, former manager of gas producer Novatek, partly owned by Gazprom, was found dead. The bodies of his wife and daughter were found nearby, an official source close to the investigation told CNN last week.
Protesenya, his wife and daughter were found at their home in Lloret de Mar, a Mediterranean resort town near Barcelona.
The bodies of the two women, who showed signs of violence, were found in the family’s luxury home and Protosenya’s body was found in the garden outside, according to the source. The case is being investigated as a double murder and subsequent suicide in a domestic violence case.
Speaking to the Daily Mail, Protosenya’s son questioned the version of events, instead suggesting that his father was murdered.
“He loved my mother and especially Maria, my sister. She was his princess. He could never harm them. I don’t know what happened that night, but I know that my father didn’t hurt her,” said Fedor Protosenya, who was at the family home in France at the time of the incident.
Catalan police in the province of Girona, where the town of Lloret de Mar is located, told CNN on Friday that “despite the son’s statements, the hypothesis remains a case of domestic violence.”
“The Catalan police have taken statements from the son. Other hypotheses were excluded. A triple homicide was also ruled out,” the police spokesman told CNN.
“That this was the work of the Russian mafia? Well, no,” the official added.
Novatek, Protosenya’s former employer, said he was “a wonderful person and a wonderful family man”.
“Unfortunately, there has been speculation in the media on this subject, but we are convinced that this speculation does not correspond to reality. We hope that Spain’s law enforcement authorities will conduct a thorough and objective investigation and clarify what happened,” the company said in a statement.
How to get help: In the United States, call the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline at 1-800-273-8255. The International Association for Suicide Prevention and Befrienders Worldwide can also provide contact information for crisis centers around the world.
This story has been updated with the correct spelling of Mikhail Watford’s last name.
CNN’s Zahid Mahmood and Al Goodman contributed coverage.